I think the federal gov’t can function effectively as a forum to debate, negotiate and arbitrate the impact of individuals and communities on each other’s rights and freedoms. We’re none of us alone on this bus, and we need an arena where we can work out how to keep it on the road and in good repair.

I do this mostly because I’m preparing a catalog of blank looks, and I gotta catch ‘em all!

My unlikely hybrid of ideas makes that a difficult question to answer in an easy-to-remember one-liner. The half-baked communitarian side of me sees government as a (but not the) vehicle through which individuals contribute to the success and stability of their community. Deciding which policies should be enacted to do so—whether educational opportunities, access to healthcare, preservation of common resources, etc.—is an important function of representative democracy.

My gooey civil libertarian center sees government as the arbiter of conflicts between positive and negative rights. For instance, I believe that education is a right, but also that the positive right to education should not infringe on the negative right to free speech—e.g., parents’ right to homeschool their children or to protest the public school’s science curriculum. Negotiating the tensions that inevitably arise can, I think, only be done in the public square.

As much as I respect Ron Paul, he and I obviously have some differences about the role government should play in its citizens’ lives. I don’t think gov’t is a necessary evil; I think it can be an arena in which good is done by and for the people it represents.

I agree that government is necessary, but I ask, what should be the role of government?

I’m not ready to call hope for political renewal quits for the same reason I’m not ready to call hope for any kind of renewal quits (Rich, this is where the partial preterism might come in): God is hard at work renewing people, and their renewal can be brought to bear on all kinds of human endeavor. Even a system as fracked as American politics is no match for the sneaky, relentless Spirit of God.

As far as politics goes, I’m more pessimistic than ever. I’ve always been cynical about pols, but more and more I think a profound cultural change is the necessary preliminary to any improvement in American politics. And I think there’s absolutely no chance of such a change occurring, which is why I think Buckley’s vision of conservatism standing athwart history, yelling Stop, is as much as can be done. Probably ever, until the world is renewed.

Steve – Can this season get any more epic?? Methinks yes.

Rich, AKA “The Goulie Kid” – Thanks for the tip! Maybe Goodman has a podcast I can check out. As to partial preterism and politics, I have in mind to explore here at some point the impact of various theologies on political ideas, so I’m sure you’ll have some wise words to add to those conversations!

Let me know how Partial Preterism converges with Politics, and I’ll start coming up with some ideas!